Just want to know if any of you have been requested to bring a copy of your application to your alumni interview. I’ve read threads on differing views on bringing a resume, but the actual application? Some interviewers actually say that they’re required to not know your stats (scores and GPA) so they can give an unbiased report.
I have an interview for Princeton that will take place at Barnes & Noble, and I don’t know what to wear. I’m leaning towards a dress & leggings b/c the only other option is jeans, but do I need to dress nicely? Obviously I wouldn’t go in looking like i just woke up, but if I wore nice dark-wash jeans, nice shoes, and a nice sweater or blouse, would that be acceptable?
just got asked for interviews by princeton and upenn!!
haha did the dumbest thing… my reply to the princeton one says my msn messenger name and like “im emailing for the greater good” at the bottom… hotmail automatically puts it on and i didnt notice until i sent it…
When I schedule an interview with a student by phone (or sometimes email), I usually let them know a little about what to expect. I suggest that it’s an opportunity to fill in any gaps or expand on something unique or show why they are a good match with the university. If you don’t know in advance what is expected, you should bring your scores, transcripts, or resume to have on hand. I personally don’t request or look at any of those items, but another school/interviewer might want them. I was very impressed when one student brought the school viewbook which she had tabbed and marked. She’d really absorbed a lot of the information and spoke directly to why the school’s character fit her referring to specific aspects of the school curriculum and priorities.
Re: what to wear. I don’t take much notice of what an applicant is wearing unless it’s on the extreme ends of the spectrum (I wouldn’t suggest gym clothes, torn jeans, or ratty t-shirt. Nor would I recommend a brand new suit that looks unnatural or uncomfortable unless you’re meeting somewhere like an interviewer’s law office. The point of clothes should be to a) not detract and b) show that you care about yourself and the interview process. If in doubt, err on conservative (tone down the makeup, don’t show too much skin, downplay the piercings, etc.)
I just had my Smith interview. My interviewer was so nice and sweet. We met at a local Starbucks, and she bought a drink for me. She brought a bunch of Smith magazines and books to look over. I didn’t know one hour could fly by so quickly. I think it went pretty well. Smith interviews are meant to be more informative rather than evaluative, so it was really relaxed.
just had my UPenn interview. it was at a local Starbucks, and i arrived about fifteen minutes early to buy my own drink and avoid the whole awkward “who buys the drink” thing.
i brought a page long resume which helped guide the conversation. I basically wore black jeans and a grey turtleneck/nice coat.
He was very nice (a Wharton graduate), and when he arrived he basically gave me the run-down of the process- informal, etc. all that. So I made sure the whole thing was more like an interactive conversation instead of a q & a session, though we did ask each other a few questions.
It lasted approximately one hour. He just asked me to highlight the most important thing on my resume and how i answered the UPenn essay prompt. Other than that, it was a conversation that covered a ton of things, which eliminated the need for formal q & a’s. It went really well and he said it was the best interview he’s had so far because I presented a strong focus- i knew what i wanted and why.
(So, if you guys have a major in mind, make sure you can easily answer why you chose that major and how you decided on it)
Good luck to everyone else! =)
I had my Harvard interview last Sunday. It was very informal, well at first he gave me rundown of the process but after a few minutes we were just joking and the conversation was very free flowing. I’m not sure that all the laughs were a good thing but I figure it’s better than akward silence. I thought it went well, except he really didnt ask about my activities or grades. actually a lot of the hour long interview pertained to his experiences at the school
I had my harvard interview today. I think it went really really well 
I showed my passion for academics and how initiative I was as a person. She really liked me and told me that she would definitely write a lot of positive things about me (of course… i didnt ask her to do that.) I was really nervous about the interview… but guys. seriously… dont worry.
It was wayyyyyy more informal then I had ever expected… We talked a lot about other things such as careers, college social life, etc. It was actually fun. I enjoyed it. Gud luck guys. Don’t worry and be honest. That’s all you have to do.
I’m an alum interviewer and cannot overemphasize to interviewees how important two basic courtesies are: (1) addressing your interviewer by title and surname unless specifically asked to do otherwise, and (2) sending a prompt thank-you note, preferably by mail, but by e-mail if no mailing address is available.
Some interviewees have posted in this thread that they addressed an interviewer by first name because the interviewer signed his/her e-mail by first name. I would still err on the side of formality with someone who is senior to me and whom I do not know. In fact I sign my e-mails, “[first name] [surname],” but that is only because one doesn’t sign oneself with one’s title, and that is not a sign that I want to be called by my first name by an interviewee.
Some have also posted in this thread that a handrwritten thank-you note seems too much or “phony” after only a 45-minute interview. On the contrary, a thank-you note is appropriate, to thank the interviewer for his/her time and effort. I may spend only an hour on the actual interview, but given the telephone contact to set up the interview, the e-mail to confirm the time and place and to send a worksheet that the adcom requires every interviewee to fill out, my review of the worksheet before the interview, the drive to and from the interview, and the drafting of an interview report, I spend between 5 and 20 hours on each interviewee. 20 hours is what I spent making a case, through the interview report, for the best interviewee that I have ever come across in all my years of interviewing.
Noting Browniebaker’s preference for a handwritten thank-you note: if the student (or parent) gets the sense based on interviewer’s age or other factors that the formality of a handwritten, non-e-mail thank-you note would be to the student 's benefit, do it (and if you have Crane’s note paper, so much the better : -)). But, if the contacts with the interviewer have been by e-mail and under all the circumstances you feel comfortable with the more contemporary, less formal e-mail thank-you, that should be fine. Still, it should be formal in the sense of appropriate form of address (Mr., Ms. if interviewer is an adult) and use of proper grammar, spelling, etc.
ooo, good heads up about the handwritten note. I usually just write a thank you email, but I hadn’t realized that some interviewers would prefer a hand-written note- I also thought that sending a written note seemed too much. I’ll keep that in mind now; thanks browniebaker and royal73.
Had my Princeton interview at a doctor’s office- he was very nice and we had a great conversation. It was pretty evenly split; I talked some, then he talked some. We mostly discussed ambitions and plans; he asked me about mine, and then I asked him to share about the evolution of his goals. we were able to relate when it came to weaknesses and balancing activities in life. all in all, it went very well. impressed by my definite ambitions and goals in the future, said it showed i’ll get things done in this world and won’t waste any opportunities.
Good luck to everyone!
haha, i’m having a slew of interviews (as you can judge by the dates of my posts on this thread)
yesterday I had my fifth (Dartmouth) interview. It was a little strange, I was caught off-guard. I arrived ten minutes early at the specified meeting place (a financial office) to find a large room with two other kids (who had apparently arrived even earlier than me) and three adults (i initially thought they were the parents of the other kids). We sat and had small talk for ten minutes, then three other adults came downstairs to join us.
That was when they announced that they were all Dartmouth alumni interviewers. After an awkward “which two interviewers should go with which kid” and “where should we go/who should stay in this room”, my interview began.
(Note to self: print and bring more than one copy of resume next time. just in case.)
They said they were going to save the resume for later, when they’d type up the report, and they put it facedown/didn’t use it for the interview.
Don’t get me wrong- they were very friendly. It was just awkward because neither of them knew who should write or who should ask questions.
The one question that was a little…<em>eep</em> for me was “Where else are you applying to?” and after I listed them/he wrote them down, he said “Okay. If you got into all of these schools, including Dartmouth, where would you go?”
After a moment of thought, I said something coherent (i think) about how I wasn’t sure but I’d revisit the campuses of the preferred colleges that offer the best programs for my major..and i’d evaluate the characters of the people there and see what kind of person I’d most like to be because character development is very important to me.
Haha…I hope that made sense.
Just be prepared for more than one interviewer, I suppose.
oh, and they asked me why I applied to X college (not dartmouth- X college being one of the five I listed when he asked me where else I was applying).
It was a little strange. I tried to give a short, neutral positive answer..“oh, the academics are high standards”.
I had my Brown interview in a Sub-Way today. 
Pretty good, I must say.
I had my Brown interview at a private school on Saturday! It went pretty well!!! The interviewer was very friendly and upbeat, so it completely felt like having a conversation with a new person.
has anyone done a macaulay honors-hunter college interview before? if so, how was it? not sure if i should schedule an interview.
i just had my interview for one of the seven sisters today. i don’t wish to mention its name, for silly reasons, but ANYWAY. I thought it went really bad. i waited at the wrong place, and thought she was late, so i ended up being about 10-15 mins late, and kept thinking, how i’d already screwed things up from the bad first impression.
she just asked me, what i’ve been doing. and about some of my activities, what i wanna major in, how I got to know of X college and my reason was abit stupid, but HONEST. i found out about X college because I was such a fan of this one author, and went on a voyeuristic stalk subsequently learning about X college!
and after her 10 mins of ‘interview’, i started to ask HER lots of questions, and she gave me basic replies that I could easily find in the viewbook or site when my questions were actually really specific, and more, experience-based. and she seemed disinterested when i was trying to convey sthg ‘personal’. shouldn’t alums be more sympathetic since they’ve gone thru the same stress?
oh she also, mentioned thrice about how I should ‘make sure that my other (colleges’) applications are in’, and i kept thinking, is that a hint of ,“you wont stand a chance” ?
i don’t know. maybe i am being paranoid. but I know it could’ve been better. I ever had an interview with Barnard, and it went terrific, the rep kept telling me to APPLY APPLY and that she would ‘fight for me to get in’.
any advice/words of condolences, i meant, comfort!!
@jamapelle, it could be that your perception of how the interview went is colored by your having been flustered at what you thought was a bad first impression because of the mix-up. It could be that the interview went all right. I rather like your explanation of how you learned of the school; it shows how passionate you were about an author’s writing and how you are open to learning new things, and it’s refreshingly different from the blah answers one usually hears to that question.
For some colleges, the interview is more informative for the applicant than evaluative of the applicant. Was this such a college? Even for colleges where the interview is evaluative, the interview can’t break your application unless it’s horrible. It doesn’t sound as if your interview was horrible. Congratulate yourself on having given it your best shot, and having gotten through it fine. I’ll be hoping for all the best for you.
hey Browniebaker, thanks for all your kind words. i’ve read that the school’s interview is more informative, so i hope you’re right. i also emailed my interviewer to thank her and explained more thoroughly about the mix up and why i might’ve responded so incoherently.
fingers crossed! this has been my dream school for Years.
Hi, jamapelle. Sending a thank-you was a nice touch, especially as it gave you the opportunity to apologize for the mix-up. I think that whenever an interviewer sets up an interview in a public place where two people have to find each other, the interviewer is going to be aware of the risk of a mix-up and is going to be forgiving when a mix-up does happen. Don’t give it another thought.
My fingers are crossed for you!